One of the main advantages of digital commerce is the abundance of data that consumers leave behind when they shop online. This data has the potential to offer businesses a wealth of information and insights into their own strategies and their customer’s behavior. As a result, a host of  web and mobile analytics tools have been developed to help companies learn about everything from buyer personas to which marketing channels are most successful. And, despite what you may have heard, many analytics tools are really good.

With all of the great options out there, finding the right measurement software for your company can feel overwhelming. Changing software options in the future can be extremely difficult. You want to find the right option the first time.

This ebook focuses on the questions to ask yourself and your business before setting out to choose your analytics platform. In addition, you’ll learn important criteria to consider when you begin shortlisting tools, products, and vendors.

First, you’ll learn how to assess your marketing and analytics requirements. While it might seem obvious that you should know what you want an analytics tool to do before you choose one, many companies skip this vital step.

 

Needs Assessment: Ask the Right Questions.

You should ask questions like:

1. What level of management in your organization will oversee the analytics solution?
2. What are the frequently-made key decisions impacting the websites that will be monitored?

Once you have answers to those questions, you should turn your attention to more specific questions related to marketing and sales.

Questions like these can help guide you to the proper solution for your business:

1. Do your leads generally convert after one interaction or many interactions?
2. What is your mix of marketing channels?

Finally, when assessing your marketing and analytics requirements, there are a few additional business considerations to make, including a realistic budget and the necessity of real-time reporting. Once you have used this guide to determine your company’s most important analytics needs, it’s time to examine selection criteria.

 

Filtering Out Different Solutions: Dig Deep!

There are some features that your analytics software should have, regardless of your individual needs. This ebook offers you an extensive list of essential features, including technical support, a trial period, transparent costs, and adherence to legislation and regulations about data collection and security.

After you’ve determined that the software solutions you are looking at have these essential features, it’s time to start looking at the specific way a potential analytics tool will work with your business and your individual needs. This ebook gives you a list of questions to ask to help you determine the best fit.

These questions include:

1. Does the analytics software aggregate data, or is it customer-centric?
2. What is the typical analytics implementation timeline?
3. How does the tool handle marketing attribution?
4. How does the analytics tool impact page loading speed?
5. How does the solution integrate with other applications, such as CRM?

Some of the questions described in this ebook can’t be answered directly by the vendor. That’s why a testing period or demo is so important. This ebook will walk you through this process, offering you advice on the best way to go about implementing a test or what to look for in a demo.

The abundance of great web analytics tools means that you’ll have to do some careful research to determine the best solution for your business. With this ebook as your guide, you will be well on your way to selecting the perfect solution for your company.